Creative over capital: How you can gain some coin by getting inventive

Posted March 21, 2017 00:19:20

Photo: Jane Milburn is a big proponent of the upcycling movement. (Supplied: Sew it Again)

One hundred years ago, it was probably seen as just the way of life — making the most of what you had without the need to spend more money.

Waste not, want not.

Now, with 24-hour shopping, credit cards and a quicker pace of life, we all seem to throw money at whatever daily issue arises.

So what if you channelled your inner-innovator to save some coin?

Textile Beat founder Jane Milburn is just one of the people spruiking this message in a movement called "slow clothing".

And she encourages people to get inventive with care, repair, adapting and reviving existing clothing.

What's the issue?

"Slow clothing is a way of thinking about, choosing and wearing clothes to ensure they bring meaning, value and joy to every day," she said.

"In the rush to own things for reasons of status and looks, we lose the opportunity to be mindful and resource by making and creating from materials that already exist. Creative reuse of natural-fibre clothing is not just good for our environment, it is good for our soul.

"Until we make or mend something for ourselves to wear, we cannot appreciate the resources, time and skill that go into the clothes we buy.

"We are overusing and wasting the limited resources on our planet.

"Our fast and furious lifestyles have brought us to a point where 6,000 kilograms of clothing is being buried in landfill every ten minutes in Australia."

Is this changing?

Whether it's because of the environment, wanting to improve our health or make sure our bank balances are healthy, people are thinking more about the things they consume.

"We're stepping back into our gardens and kitchens, and preparing meals for ourselves, because we've realised quick, processed options — although convenient — can be unhealthy and unsatisfying," Ms Milburn said.

"It's time to think about our clothing in the same way, because what we wear affects our health, the health of others and the health of our planet.

"We benefit from knowing how to mend, modify and make."

So what's the message?

"Discover your creativity and live directly in the world by spending time playing by learning about gardening, making, baking, creating where you produce what you need with your own hands and heart," she said.

We asked our Messenger audience for their ideas...

Here are some of the best.

In clothing and looking good:

Richard P: "I bought a red dress for my friend for a performance piece we were in. Later on I needed a superhero costume so I cut out the back of the dress as a cape. A few years later I used the remaining pieces to create a vest and a scarf. Four pieces of clothing in one!"

Beth H: "When I don't like an item of clothing anymore, I cut it up to make a new look! For example I cut a dress just recently in half to make it a shirt and a skirt."

Photo: Our readers have found new uses for the clothes in their wardrobes. (105.7 ABC Darwin: Emilia Terzon)

Lottie M: "I didn't buy any new clothes/products … for a year."

Luci R: "I use old woollen jumpers to make my greyhound warm clothes for winter."

Ashlyn K: "Turning old men's shirts I have into something new by making different cuts like an off-the-shoulder shirt or into a tank top."

CJ H: "Instead of paying a hairdresser to do my hair, I did some research and found that colour brands always need people to try out their new range! Haven't paid to colour my hair in two years plus free shampoo and conditioner as well!"

In food:

Lachlan G: "I managed to halve my grocery costs over the week by shopping at market grocers where they often use second-grade fruit."

Pamela N: "OK. A tad banal. But large Moccona coffee jars make good food storage units. Those tight lids are a boon."

Gus K: "Home-brewing beer is seeing a big resurgence thanks to craft beer … I can't say my brewing is crazy but I do save a lot of money and make something that is, most of the time, pretty good."

Photo: Messenger reader Lachlan said visiting market grocers cut his food shop bill in half. (Matt Brann: ABC Rural)

Isabella M: "Using old bananas to make banana bread."

Amanda P: "Fridge soup is a frequent recipe — sundry leftovers from the fridge, added to a stock pot in order of their cooking times, with extra stock … It makes a generally tasty soup merging the different flavour profiles into a savoury soup."

Samuel M: "Who needs fancy ingredients for cocktails? Just a bit of this and a bit of that; that left over wine from the fridge, the juice in the fridge, some fresh mint that randomly started growing in the garden, and then a bit of whatever alcohol you have left that no-one remembers who bought or owns."

Sonya M: "Through winter we have a 'soup cycle' container in the fridge, to put veg peelings in when making meals from our garden veggies. At the end of the week, we make a chicken and veg soup, making the chicken frame and peelings into stock, and then starting the cycle again. Cheap, efficient and reduces waste. "

Annette WS: "Savings on food costs and improving nutrition by making my own cheese and yoghurt and maximising my veg and fruit garden production."

Priscilla J: "I look at recipes and remove all the non-essential ingredients till only three quarters are left. This often saves me buying up to seven ingredients per meal."

Lily G: "Take a packed lunch to work instead of buying it. Have at least one day a week where you eat leftovers from previous night's dinner. Make an easy-to-follow budget for one week, two weeks or a month."

December M: "It's kind of hard to explain but it's the way I store foods. I store my bacon in the freezer but with each piece rolled up in a cylinder shape, which means I can just grab individual ones from the freezer as I need it. Another trick is to bulk-buy. We invested $80 in a brand-name vacuum sealer and purchase rolls to make bags for it. We buy meat in bulk and then divide it up into one or two meals which we vacuum seal."

In the house and garden:

Sharon M: "I wanted a tea cosy and couldn't find one anywhere that wasn't designer and big $. So I took an old beanie, cut holes in it for the handle and spout, sewed around the cuts and voila — new tea cosy."

Rachel Z: "Using silicon plumbing tape (which I already had) around the thread of the screw holding on a dodgy cupboard door handle instead of replacing the handle. Won't work forever, but buys me some time."

Photo: Messenger reader Alice avoids buying plants at the nursery, making the most of her friend's gardens. (ABC Rural: Courtney Fowler.)

Mitch A: "I had been looking into a security camera system for my house. It needed to be wireless, record in HD, upload to cloud storage, be viewable on my smartphone from anywhere and send alerts when motion is detected. Any system with all these capabilities will set you back over $500 with three cameras. I ditched this commercial solution and instead used three old android phones I had lying around. You can pick one up for about $50 (even cheaper with a cracked screen). All I had to do was install an app called IP-Webcam and it did the rest. They meet all the requirements plus have a microphone and battery backup!"

Rosemary W: "I sew up tea towels to make drink bottle holders and they help keep them cool for a short time."

Jenny M: "Not genius but I made a scoop for potting mix out of a plastic milk bottle."

Sheryl M: "When the plastic parts of my clothes airers snap, I use them in the vegetable garden covered with chicken wire. They protect the rhubarb from the possums. Covered with fly screen mesh they keep cabbage moths off the kale."

Alice B: "I propagate plants from cuttings from friend's gardens so I can have a blooming garden without spending heaps at the plant nursery. I learnt how from a library book."

Joanna H: "Save your jars! I practically never throw out jars from pasta sauce, curry paste, peanut butter or minced garlic. Just give them a really good wash ... scrape off the label, and boom! You have a drinking glass, or food storage, or a tea light holder, a vase!"

In getting arty:

Libby M: "I'm a single parent and I make a lot of things from scratch. I think the thing that has saved the most money is making my own soap from coconut oil. When I am on a tight budget, it serves as dish soap, is the base for a laundry liquid and makes a decent shampoo. With a few additions, it can even make nice gifts."

Photo: You could throw out your television. Or you could make like our reader Jonathon and repurpose it. (Mandy Goldberg, Flickr.com)

Matt K: "My friend runs sessions at uni where we take bicycle inner tubes and turn them into (often bike-related) creative projects — belts, bike-puncture repair kit pouches, drink bottle holders, octopus straps, etc."

Jonathon P: "Currently renovating two '70s-style TVs into fish tanks."

Alex H: "I really needed a jewellery holder but didn't want to pay lots for a pretty one. So I made one I could hang up out of sticks and wire I had at home."

Laurie B: "Turned the bottom of the old BBQ into a dog kennel."

And saving through good old common sense:

Tom WW: "If something breaks, I fix it. If I lose something, I find it. If I need to buy something, I buy second-hand."

Rachael K: "Take a water bottle absolutely everywhere you go. Regardless of the occasion or whether you're just visiting your friends on the weekend. It's great for your health and saves spending $4 just to stay hydrated."

Joseph H: "Ensuring you research flights when you travel — chances are you can find a cheaper price online."

Sophie O: "Every pay check that comes through I calculate my upcoming expenses/bills and keep enough money in my main account for that, then I put aside the rest of the money in a high-interest savings account that I do my best not to touch."

Anne H: "Use my credit card for everything and travel on air points."

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Tim M: "Not really genius. But I save money in gym fees and car parking and fuel costs by riding my bike to and from work every work day (22km round trip). I also use the local kids' playground as a gym for my HIIT workouts obtained from YouTube (early before any kids are there of course). The money I save goes towards better bike gear or just yummier food (i.e. fuel for the bike). Or maybe flowers for my wife every now and then."

Laura O: "Bringing a water bottle with me everywhere, and bringing food from home. Does that count?"

Lauren K: "Not exactly genius but we put all our gold coins in a blue glass bottle that was previously a diffuser bottle. We call it the 'fancy fund' due to the bottle being a pretty but also because it started out as a way to save for nice dinners. Now we actually save the money once the jar fills up."

And we have to give some points for these ideas

James BW: "Put some vodka in a glad bag, chuck it in your pants = no more expensive drinks at the club."

Anna D: "I mean, I wouldn't recommend doing this but for Year 12 theatre studies I used some (presumably) 10-plus-year-old wire I found in my garage that was left by previous owners of my house to make a bustle for our class production. It turned out really well and would have cost me a lot to buy new wire. I covered the ends with gaffer tape, but still … I guess it's always worth the risk of tetanus to save money, right?"

Rahn S: "Save milk, pour it out of your cereal bowl and back into the carton when you're done."

Topics: money-and-monetary-policy, consumer-finance, australia